Job Discussion Forums

[KnockoutNed]

This is in Numazu. I am not too concerned about saving money as I have no debts to pay off back home. Please share your thoughts:



Contract

The undersigned, Hosaka English Academy (hereafter referred to as the School) and Teacher�s name hereafter referred to as the Teacher), have agreed to enter into an employment contract on the following specific terms:


1. The Teacher may teach English only with the permission of the School.

2-A. The term of employment begins on and ends .

2-B. If the Teacher wishes to terminate the agreement at a time other than that specified in Article 2, the Teacher should notify the School 3 months in advance.

3-A. The Teacher should work with sincerity and should not engage in any act that may prove detrimental to the honor and reputation of the School.

3-B. The Teacher should abide by the rules and regulations of the School and cooperate with the latter for its development. (See Rules)

3-C. The School will endeavor to create comfortable working condition so that both the School and the Teacher will be able to cooperate for their mutual benefit.

3-D. The Teacher and the School should respect and support each other, and share any small problems not only about teaching but also friendship. The Teacher should try his/her best to teach English and let his/her students experience the pleasure of learning in a relaxed manner.

4-A. Teachers must understand that the workshops and staff meeting are not paid but are

a part of their professional responsibility.

4-B. The Teacher should seek the advice of the School regarding any problems in instructing classes, and the School should provide assistance to the Teacher to resolve the problem.

4-C. If the Teacher loses students or classes because of inadequate teaching or failure to seek assistance for a problem with the class, the School can not guarantee replacement of or compensation for the lost hours.

4-D. If the School is forced to terminate the contract of a Teacher whose performance in class is inadequate, the School will give the Teacher a minimum of one month notice.

5-A. The Teacher will be paid 3,000 yen per hour (2,500 yen for teaching and 500 yen

for preparing). He/she will have about 21 hours per week.

Formula: Actual hours worked in a month x 3,000 yen = salary

The salary will change (from between 200,000 to 280,000 yen) depending on the

length of the month.

The months that include holidays, the teacher will be guaranteed 200,000 yen per

month.

5-B. In case the minimum period of one-year has not expired for any reasons, the School does not need to guarantee Article 5-A.

5-C. Up to 30,000 may be deducted from the final payment of wages as a deposit to cover expenses. After all bills have been paid from this deposit, any reminder will be returned to the Teacher with receipts.

5-D. In case of absence due to illness, the Teacher will not be paid for the missed class and the school will pay for the other teacher who teaches his/her missed class. When the period of absence is more than 8 days and the Teacher is examined by a doctor, the School will pay 60% of the basic salary for the period of absence. A formal notices from the examining doctor will be required.

5-E It is stipulated that the pay-day should be the last day of month.

5-F Mandatory attendance is required: Teachers are expected to attend the following school events: Halloween picnic (on the last Sunday in October), Speech festival (in July).

The Teacher will not be paid by hour but rather a token cash gift will be given for the aforementioned school events.

5-G The teacher has to live in the apartment which is provided by the school.

The room is basically for the single person.

4,000 yen will be deducted from the payment of wages monthly as furniture rental fee.

6. The Teacher agrees that the School shall not be responsible for any accident which may occur during transit if the teacher drives his/her own vehicle and/or is using public transportation such as train, bus or taxi. In the event of accident or injury to the teacher during the term of the contract the school is not responsible financially for any medical expenses, damages, or unpaid bills by the teacher. The school will not act as guarantor of payment.

7. Any separate agreement made between the Teacher and Mr. Teruo Hosaka will only supersede this contract if so specified in such agreement. This agreement has been prepared in duplicate with each party keeping a copy.


Date: Date:

[G Cthulhu]

It sucks?

Seriously, you'd earn more at Interac.

[Yawarakaijin]

Furniture rental fee? Seriously that is an odd one. Most schools offer you a semi-furnished place to help you get settled in. Right there, with that one single clause, I would consider giving them a pass.

[KnockoutNed]

[mhard1]

hey it seems ok but some things are a little ambiguous.

first:

4-A. Teachers must understand that the workshops and staff meeting are not paid but are

a part of their professional responsibility.

you might want to get some clarification on exactly how many hours that would include as extra. Any nonpaid working time is pretty iffy.

Also, I do not completely understand your wage. You are paid by the hour, but you have some sort of range for your salary based on the length of the month? You should get a clear answer as to your take home wages per month. Without this, you will be hard pressed to budget anything.

So far that is all I have to offer.

[OneJoelFifty]

[Mr_Monkey]

[The Hungry Yeti]

"5-G The teacher has to live in the apartment which is provided by the school.

The room is basically for the single person."

It seems that you only get a room, and may be sharing the apartment with others. You may want to get this clarified.

[Glenski]

Don't take this job.

Underpaid.
Micromanaged.
Illegal clauses in the contract (especially about penalties/deductions).

Sounds like they had some real losers for teachers in the past, and they are trying to control the situation (that, or they are intrinsically poor managers).

There are far better places to work for.

[seklarwia]

Just because there is no mention of rent in this contract, you shouldn't assume that the place is rent free. Have they actually told you that there is no rent to pay? It's not unusual to have a seperate housing contract aside from the employment contract... you should definately ask and get it in writing if there is no actual rent.

[Apsara]

I agree with seklarwia. Unless you have specifically been told so, definitely don't assume the place is rent free.

[robertokun]

You going to want to pass on this one.
No way there is an apartment provided free of charge.
The 4,000 is going to be your furniture "rental fee" on top of the rent.
It would be fun to see more contracts posted on here.

[flyer]

yes, I think you will be paying more than 4000yen for rent etc (??)

but I have seen much worse job conditions

[OneJoelFifty]

It's great that a lot of you guys already have experience living and working in Japan, and I've found your advice very helpful. But I was wondering how much that relates to the current market, entry-level jobs in particular. I've seen a fair few job offers for the April 2010 start and this contract doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary in comparison.

Everything I've read, including advice from some of you, suggests there being fewer jobs around than in previous years, for a greater number of applicants. So yes, there are better companies to work for, but surely at some point you just have to take a chance with what's offered. I'm not necessarily saying that this is the job to take that chance with, but it's extremely rare to see anything positive said about entry-level contracts on these forums.

[Glenski]